[klabb3]

My working hypothesis: it attracts puzzle solvers, people who have a passion for – and sometimes an obsession with – perfect systems. When applied to life outside of the confines of the type system, it can lead to a black and white thinking that ironically explains the behavior of both parties: the organizers unwilling to admit to their medium sized mistake and the speaker rage quitting in response. It’s all or nothing. It either compiles and is correct or it’s incomprehensible nonsense.

All organizations and their people make mistakes. Most people intrinsically expect that the world is somewhat fuzzy, including most engineering types. Responsibilities and conduct isn’t formalized, it loosely follows a set of cultural expectations. The good side effect of this fuzziness is that mistakes happen so often that you start expecting them. And then you don’t have to get upset or part ways when something bad happened. How you as an individual or organization recover from these mistakes is a lot more important than trying to stop them from happening.

People who think mistakes are unacceptable are often the same types who are the most unwilling to recognize their own mistakes.